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Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Record Holder, Railway Bridge and Fantasy World

"Running On Water" :- Images can be deceiving...this one is. It looks as though I am the only one out in the sun on Brighton's Madeira Drive but it was a subtle blend of timing and waiting for the window of opportunity that created the image free of people and vehicles. In actual fact it was very busy (as usual) and I was waiting for a gap in pedestrians and traffic to coincide in order to get the shot I was aiming for. This is an image of Steve Ovett's statue which was erected in 2012 just before the Olympics commenced here in the UK. Steve Ovett was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow (Russia). He also set world records for the 1500 metres and the mile run. In 1978 he broke the UK record for 2 miles (3,219 m) which he still holds to this day. Mr Ovett was born in Brighton and lived here for many years, he now lives in Australia.

"4.7 m" :- A boring title for a relatively boring subject matter. The mundane reality of modern living. This is a shot of the Sackville Road railway bridge in Hove, England. It was originally built circa 1839 when the road that ran through it was much narrower and not in constant use. As the rise of the motorcar grew in popularity the bridge the old bridge was considered to be a nuisance and hindrance due to the bottleneck it caused and also it low height and small width (busses could not pass under). In August 1926 reconstruction of the bridge commenced and a new steel bridge was installed in just a few hours one Sunday morning! The Ministry of Transport made a grant towards the costs of the new bridge on the condition that the level of the roadway must be lowered by 12 inches to provide minimum headroom of 16 feet.

"The Lost Kingdom" :- The United Kingdom was once a green and pleasant land along with many other countries on the rest of the planet. Slowly the greenery has been eaten up and replaced by grey concrete and black tarmac. I thought "The Lost Kingdom" would make a great title for this image as it shows what we have lost in so many places and what we miss on a daily basis as we wander about our self made concrete jungles. The title also reflects a fairy tale / fantasy world where you'd expect to come across the odd Unicorn or Centaur. This was shot and captured yesterday (6th May 2013) afternoon in the village of Southease (between Lewes and Newhaven) in Sussex, England.